Planting Bulbs

Have you ever planted flower bulbs? I have and they have the best payoff of anything I’ve ever planted! Our previous home up north had a small tree in the front yard outlined by brick and bark mulch at the bottom. It was so incredibly boring, so I planted a circle of daffodils and a larger circle of tulips around the base of the tree. Every spring, sometimes while there was still snow on the ground, I would find them growing up out of the ground and before I knew it, breaking into beautiful yellow and red flowers. It was like an annual gift I had given to myself!

I haven’t yet planted any bulbs here in Texas for a couple of reasons. Obviously, the weather here is quite different and I haven’t been too sure about what types of bulbs are best to plant here. Also, we have a gazillion squirrels and rabbits here and I don’t want them stealing my bulbs!

Good news! I learned to visit www.digdropdone.com to learn more and to use their Garden Guru tool to find what bulbs are right for planting in my area. It’s super easy to use, just choose your country, then your area, pick the type of bulb and then check the planting guide that shows how to plant your bulbs. This is a screenshot of my personalized planting guide if I choose to plant hyacinths.

If you’ve never planted bulbs, its super simple. Seriously, it’s digging a small hole, dropping in the bulb and covering the hole up with dirt. Done! You can visit www.digdropdone.com to learn more information and watch videos for great ideas using bulbs. I personally enjoyed Marcy’s idea for growing bulbs in pots as her sons science project, great idea! Although, Evelyn reminded me that daffodils are pretty animal tolerant, in other words, they’re not tasty to critters.

Bulbs make great gifts too. My mom was given an amaryllis bulb ijn a pot several years ago and every year, that amaryllis blooms beautifully for all of us to enjoy.

If the ease of planting bulbs isn’t enough to entice you, how about a contest at Curbside Chaos that is paying $5,000 for a yard makeover! Just like bulb planting, it’s easy to enter, just submit a photo of your yard! The lucky winner will get the yard makeover plus a visit from Taniya Nayak (@TaniyaNayak on Twitter)who will provide the winner with tips for updating their yard along with ways to incorporate bulbs into the landscaping.

Plus, because the contest is an effort to educate people on the beauty of bulbs, for every share on Twitter, “Bulbs. Dig, Drop, Done.” will donate $1.00 to Rebuilding Together – the nation’s leading nonprofit, working to preserve affordable homeownership and revitalize communities.

If you think you’ve never seen a flower that came from a bulb, think again. Just look up at my blog header, those are tulips, my favorite flower. Yes, tulips come from bulbs!